Refrigerating apparatus



' PatentedQct. 19, 1937 un-En sTAra's Y PATENT. oFiica Ianr'aronnamaarrsnams Flor an L. Meacham, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to 1 uGenerat Motors Corporation. Dayton, Ohio, acorporation of DelawareApplication February 23, 1935, Serial no. 1,075

' '2 jClaims. (cl. 211-153) vA further object of the invention is toprovide an improved shelf for. a refrigerator cabinet 1 which will notinterfere with circulation of air. in. therefrigerator and which can bemanufac- 15 turedat low cost. p I

A still further object of the invention is to provide a shelf for arefrigerator cabinet which willhave a minimum of cross-pieces ascompared to. conventional shelves and which will be devoid'of sharpedges to thereby render the shelf easily cleanable.

Further objects and advantages of the present 1 invention will beapparent from the following description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, .whe'reina preferred form of .the

present inventionis clearly shown.

In the drawing:

Fig. ldiscloses a refrigeratorcabinet of the household type with thefood compartment "door thereof-in open positionandshowingshelvesconpresent inventionfdis structed according to the posed in thecompartment:

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal view through thecabinetshown in Fig.. 1 showing my improved shelf supported in the food storagecompartment of thecabineti 3 Fig.3 is a fragmentary view ofa round barorwire employed in the construction of. my. im-

proved shelf. and showings; portion thereof as being flattened;

m. 4 is an end view of the bar orrod shown. in

having openings punched therethrough; Fig. 6 is an eievational side viewof a device for holding a plurality of the rods shown in Fig. 5

I in alignment during the manufacture of my-im-' proved shelf; and Fig.7 is a'sectionalview of Fig. 6 and is taken on the-lines 1-! thereof.-

In the construction "of refrigerators .and particularly those of themechanically refrigeratedhousehold type difficulty hasbeen experiencedin providing satisfactory" means within the cabinet 4 side view of a baror rodafter been flattened asfishown in Figs 3 and 4 andafter the deviceshown in for supporting objects to be cooled. Conventional shelvesheretofore employed in refrigerator cabi-. nets have been constructed oflattice work or gratings or the like of woven wire and theseconventional shelves. have notbeen entirely satisfactory. One of thedifliculties in the use of shelves heretofore employed consists insupporting small containers without upsetting or causing them to tilt soas to cause the contents to spill. Another difficulty encountered-in theuse of food supporting shelves in refrigerators is that the conventionalshelves ordinarilyconsist of entirely too many cross pieces which havesharp corners or edges thereby ren'deringthe shelves hard to clean. Theplurality of cross pieces and sharp edges ordinarily found inconventional shelves interfere withthe sliding of objects or containersalong: the supporting surface of the shelves dur-- ing the act of movingcontainers into and from the food compartment of refrigerator cabinets.

These and other difliculties are eliminated by the use of the improvedtype of shelf of the present invention.

Referringto' the drawing. for purposes of illustration, I have'shown inFig. 1 thereof a refrigerator cabinet 10 of the household type. Thecabinet i0 includesa plurality of vertically diszontaily disposedinsulated walls I! forming and surrounding a food storage compartment Il. The compartment I! has an opening therein which permits access to theinterior thereof and within compartment it and is adapted to beconnected' with any suitable or conventional refrig-. erant liquefyingand circulating unit (not shown).

posed and suitably insulated walls II and hori-, v

which opening is ordinarily closed bya door ll.

A cooling 'element'or evaporator ii'is mounted f Theinner surface of theinsulated 'walls H and I2. 3

with a metallic lining member ID upon which horizontally aligned meansor protrusions II are provided-for supporting a .plurality of vertically.spaced' apart and horizontally extending food supporting'shelvesll. Theshelves l8 divide the food storage chambers and the cooling effectproducedby the; evaporator ll causes circulation of air throughoutcompartment I 3 and-betweenthc I adaptedtobe stored" in the cabinet l0.

compartment [3 into a plurality of superimposed food chambers thereinfor chilling food products forming food storage compartment it are linedHaving described theconstruction or the cab- 1 met it and arrangement ofthe shelves employed therein I-will now proceed to describe the ccn-.

.struction andmethod or making the shelves it.

- A plurality of pieces of round or round rods wire. Thesesimilarlengths of round wire 2| are 2 e 2|v of a; predetermined andsimilar length are cut from a roll thereof or from a long piece of rodor then flattened as at 22 (see Figs. 3 and 4) by any .suitable means toprovide the flat bar 23 straight continuous rod or wire may be drawn orforced through suitable pressing rollers to'progressively flatten therod or wire along the continuous length thereof prior to cutting thepredetermined lengths or bars therefrom. It is to be understoodthatsuitable provisions for maintain-.

ing the curved smooth edges 24 of the bars 23 in v v a flat plane andparallel with one another must be provided during the act of flatteningthe wires or rods 2|. After obtaining a plurality of the flattened bars23 as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing in the manner described an openingor hole 26 is punched or cut through the bar 23 at or near each endthereof. Each of the holes 26 in rod 23 are of an elongated formationand the elongation extends in a direction parallel with the longitudinalextension of the rod 23. It is to be understood that the holes oropenings 26 in the flat bar '23 are equally spaced apart and are equallyspaced from the ends of the bar. A plu-, rality of the flat bars 23shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing are then 'placedina rack or aligningdevice 28. The device 28 includes a base portion 29 and raised endportions 3|. Device 28 is also provided with a plurality of parallellyextending grooves or slots 32 cut in the upper face of the base portion29 thereof. Each of the grooves 32 is adapted to receive one of theflattened bars or rods 23 and it will be noted that the ends. of

rods or bars 23 abut the inner wall surface of- 23 and the rods or barsare in horizontal alignment with one another, a rod 34 is adapted to beforced through each of the aligned set of holes or openings 26. The rods'34 adapted to be forced through the elongated holes 26 in bars 23 aresubstantially oval or elongated in cross-section and are formed byflattening a round shaft in the same-manner that the flattening of bars23 is carried out. The oval or elongated in cross-sec-. tion rods 34 arepositioned transversely to the bars 23 and are'adapted 'to be forced, byany suitable forcing means, into each of the elongated holes ,26 in thealigned sets thereof in bars 23. Rods 34 tightly engage walls of theopenings 26 in bars 23, and this tight flt prevents movement of the bars23 along the length of rods 34 and also eliminates the necessityofsoldering or welding the bars and rods together.

It will be seen that the elongated shape of the holes 26 in bars 23 andthe oval or elongated cross-sectional contour of rods 34 preventsrotation of the rods 34 in the holes 26. Thus the rods 34 and holes 26in bars 23 maintain the plurality of bars 23 in horizontal alignment andthe bars 23 provide'a flat food supporting surface. The rigid structureprevents one end of theshelf ill from being twisted out of. alignmentwith theother end thereof. After the rods 34 are assembled in the bars23 to provide a unitary shelf structure the ends of rods 34 may be bentat 9,696,053 I a right angles to the main portion thereof as'indicatedat 35. In other words the ends of rods 34 may be bent to extend in thesame directionas the extensions of the longitudinal bars 23 so as to.provide a wide supporting leg-on the shelffor resting on or forattachment to the shelf supports I! formed on the lining member l6 of.cabinet HI. v

A shelf' is constructed as disclosed eliminates the necessity ofsoldering or welding the joints between the longitudinal bars 23 and thecross rods 34 by virtue of the cooperation of the oval rods 34 with theelongated openings 26 in bars 23 to thereby provide a rigid structure. Ashelf constructed according to myinvention provides a flat foodsupporting surface and is adapted to be mounted in a refrigeratorcabinetso that-the longitudinal bars 23 thereof extend in a directionparallel with the side wallsof the cabinet. The extension of the bars 23of shelf I6 permits articles to'be freely slid along the surface of theshelf without striking cross rods since only two cross rods are employedin the con.- struction of the improved shelf, and since these cross rods34 are positioned below the plane of the round top supporting surface 24of bars 23.

It will be seen from the foregoing that I have provided an improvedshelf construction for use in refrigerator cabinets and that the novelmeth- 0d of making the shelf as disclosed reduces manufacturing costs toa minimum while at the same I time provides a strong rigid shelf whichwill not twist out of a horizontal plane or become cleformed. Myimproved shelf construction greatly reduces the number of cross barsordinarilyemployed in conventional shelf structures and therebyfacilitates cleaning of the shelf and permits a free air circulationwithin a refrigerator cabinet.- My improved shelf structure also elim-vinates sharp edges or corners and thereby prevents cutting of the handsduring cleaning of the in the food storage compartment or removing sametherefrom. In addition my improved shelf provides a flat food Supportingsurface for sup: porting small articles or dishes thereon withoutcausing tilting thereof. x

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed,constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims whichfollow. I

What is claimed is as follows: v

1. 'A shelf for refrigerators comprising, a plurality of spacedapartmembers extending longitudinally in the same direction, each of saidmembers having spaced apart openings extendshelf or during the act *ofplacing food products ing horizontally therethrough in a directiontransverse to the length thereof, a pair of spaced apart rods extendingtransversely to said members throughthe openings therein andconstituting the sole means of supporting said pluwalls of the openingsin said members for rigidly securing the plurality of members in saidcommon horizontal plane to provide a flat surface adapted for thesupport andready sliding of objects thereon, and the ends of said rodsbeingextended outwardly from said members to supporting legs for saidshelf.

2. A shelf for refrigerators comprising,a pluform rality of flatmembers-spaced apart and arranged to I said members extendinglongitudinally in the" s eep es so that their-flat faces are verticallydisposed,

same direction, each of said flat members having spaced .apart' openingsextending horizontally therethrough in a direction transverse to thelength thereof, a pair of spaced apart rods extending transigzrsely tosaid flat members through the openings therein and constituting the solemeans of supporting said plurality of flat members in a, commonhorizontal plane, the crossv section of 'said rods, at least at theirpoint of interseotion with said flat members, being oi a special contourrelative'to thecontour of the walls oi! the openings in said flatmembers tor rigidly securing the plurality of flat members in saidcommon horizontal plane to provide a flat surface adapted for thesupport and ready sliding 01 objects thereon, and the ends of said rodsbeing extended outwardly 0! said members to to supporting legs for saidsheli. FLORAN L. MEACHAM.

